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taste resembles liquorice : ” and Dr. Kellogg has a very similar
remark. The stalk is probably several inches long: it is rather
slender, smooth, and, when dried, is straw-colored. The fronds
are ample, generally over a foot long, and are broader in the
middle than at the base. They are much thinner in texture
than those of P. vulgare, to which Mr. Baker has referred the
plant. In a large frond there are about twenty-two segments
on each side, mostly alternate, the lower ones distant, and much
dilated on each side of the base : the upper ones are placed closer
together, and are less dilated. The middle segments are over
three inches long; and all of them, the terminal one included,
are sharply serrate, and narrowed very gradually to an attenuated
point. The veins fork near the midvein, having the upper
fork simple, and the lower divided into three veinlets, which are
always free. The fruit-dots are numerous on the upper half of
the frond, but do not extend to the narrow tips of the segments.
The spores are reniform-ovoid, and minutely verrucose
on the surface.
I have seen but very few fronds of this fern, and it does
not seem to have been gathered by recent collectors ; but I am
still disposed to consider it a distinct species.
The frond drawn is a small one collected by General Kautz.
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